09TBILISI800, GEORGIA: PROTESTS TO CONTINUE BUT STRAINS ARE

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 000800
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2019
TAGS: PGOVPHUMPRELGG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: PROTESTS TO CONTINUE BUT STRAINS ARE
SHOWING
Classified By: DCM KENT D. LOGSDON REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D).
¶1. (C) Summary: Modest numbers of protesters turned out
both on Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26 with crowds
numbering around 2-3000 and 500-1000 respectively. "Cells"
continued to block traffic in front of the Georgia Public
Broadcaster (GPB) Building, Freedom Square, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MOIA), the Chancellery (where the PM's
office is located), and Rustaveli Avenue. A concert was
canceled on Sunday due to the unexpected death of former
Georgian Ambassador to the United States and Switzerland (and
Alasania supporter) Levan Mikeladze. In a meeting with the
diplomatic corps on April 25, Speaker of Parliament David
Bakradze said the government continues to offer dialogue on a
range of issues, but the opposition continues to rebuff
offers. Protests organizers will announce again on April 27
another "action plan". End Summary.
¶2. (C) Comment: Despite modest crowds and increasing
public irritation with the protests, the non-parliamentary
opposition presses forward. The makeup of recent crowds
suggests a "rent-a-crowd" with a sizable percentage, if not
the vast majority, of the protesters believed to be receiving
payment to keep the protests ongoing. The financial strains
are showing with non-parliamentary opposition leaders calling
for donations from the public. Despite their public claims
of confidence, offering free concerts and busing protesters
in from the regions may be moves of desperation rather than
signs of impending success. End Comment.
Protest Numbers Dwindle - Still No Sign of a Plan
¶3. (C) Like a broken record, the non-parliamentary
opposition promises a "new action plan" to be unveiled April
27 although all signs indicate that they have no plan other
than to give more speeches and call for more protests. The
MOIA put Saturday's numbers at roughly 2300 protesters which
one Embassy observer described as a "rent-a-crowd". Roughly
500-1000 protesters with the same "rent-a-crowd" look showed
up in front of Parliament on a beautiful sunny Sunday
afternoon. Freedom Square, the road in front of the GPB, the
State Chancellery, and MOIA buildings remained blocked with
only a handful of protesters (5-15) manning the "cells,"
though buildings can be accessed on foot. Sunday's protest
might have drawn a larger crowd because of a planned concert;
however, the death of Alasania ally and former diplomat Levan
Mikeladze led the organizers to cancel the event. (Embassy
Note: Mikeladze died of an apparent heart attack or stroke
at home on Sunday morning. Most of the non-parliamentary
opposition did not appear at the protest on Sunday, instead
paying their respects to Mikeladze's family. End Note.)
¶4. (C) On the margins of a government-hosted reception
celebrating Georgia's tenth anniversary as a member of the
Council of Europe, Deputy Ombudsman Giorgi Chkheidze told the
DCM that he worried that both sides were stuck in a dead-end
game. He thought that it was important at this stage for the
Government to make a concession up front, and that offering a
dialogue at this point was not enough. Chkheidze said that
the concession would have to come in an important area like
judicial reform or law enforcement, but he did not have a
concrete idea. When asked whether the opposition would
respond positively to a Government concession, Chkheidze said
that he frankly did not know.
Protests Proving to Be Expensive
QProtests Proving to Be Expensive
¶5. (C) Koba Davitashvili (Party of the People) informed
protesters that the non-parliamentary opposition would put
boxes out at the rallies and he publicized a bank account
number for donations. Estimates vary, but most put the cost
of constructing the mock "cells" in the range of
200,000-300,000 USD. Reports of protesters receiving 35 USD
plus lunch a day means that the non-parliamentary opposition
is spending a substantial sum of money every day to continue
the protests. (Embassy Comment: Assuming only 500
protesters are being paid, the cost would be nearly 20,000
USD a day not counting paying for flags, banners, sound
systems, electricity, transportation from the regions etc.
End Comment.) It has been widely rumored though not
confirmed that Nino Burjanadze has been footing a large
portion of the costs of the protests from her personal wealth.
¶6. (C) The French Ambassador told the DCM that he met with
Kakha Kukava (Conservatives) on April 26 at Kukava's request.
Kukava asked the French Ambassador to arrange a meeting for
opposition leaders (unclear which ones) to meet with EU
Ambassadors, indicating that the opposition was ready to talk
about finding a way out of the deadlock with the Government.
The EU planned to meet April 27 to discuss whether or not to
TBILISI 00000800 002 OF 002
take up Kukava's offer. In other EU news, EUSR Semneby and
EU Ambas
sadors issued a joint statement on April 24 (emailed
to EUR/CARC) commending all sides for the peaceful exercise
of the right of free assembly and calling on all sides to
abide by the law. In a separate statement, French Ambassador
Fournier charged that blockage of roads and government
buildings by protesters was not legal and lamented that the
government was forced to hold official meetings in hotels.
Bakradze Leaves the Door Open
¶7. (C) In a diplomatic corps briefing held at the Sheraton
due to access issues at Parliament, Speaker of Parliament
David Bakradze said the government still was seeking a
dialogue with the protest leaders. Bakradze outlined three
baskets of areas for discussion: internal political reform,
economic, and security issues. Bakradze said that he has
approached a number of academics and other opinion makers and
experts regarding participation in reform groups. Bakradze
said the GoG had proposed a "no-agenda" meeting with the
non-parliamentary opposition through EUSR Peter Semneby in
order to create the opportunity for a frank and open
discussion. Bakradze said the format would have allowed the
non-parliamentary opposition to save face by claiming the
discussion was to center around Saakashvili's resignation.
He lamented the response to the meeting was to have relative
moderate David Usupashvili (Republicans - Alliance for
Georgia) read a terse statement rejecting any dialogue and
denouncing the GoG. Ambassadors at the briefing applauded
the government's efforts in handling the protests and openly
questioned whether Tbilisi should be held hostage to the
demands of a radical few. Bakradze said the GoG was not
going to wait forever for the non-parliamentary opposition to
agree to dialogue but, he noted, the door would remain open
for them.
LOGSDON

The information recorded on this site has been extracted from http://Wikileaks.org (Georgia) database..

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